Tips to beginners

How to start collecting stamps?

Sources:

As with any hobby, there are some supplies you'll need to get started with a stamp collection.

• Look at the letters you receive at home each day. Many will have a stamp on them.
• Ask your friends and family to save stamps for you from their mail.
• Ask your relatives living abroad to affix nice stamps on mail they send to you.
• Exchange stamps with other friends or stamp collectors.
• Be a member of philatelic club or association and exchange or buy surplus material of other members.
• Buy stamps from post offices / philatelic bureaux / philatelic counters or from stamp dealers.

What to collect?

You could collect stamps from one or two countries or by choosing one or two of your favorite subjects. Many beginners choose a subject like art, history, sports, transportation, science or animals as the theme of their collection. This is called thematic or topical collecting.

Some popular theme/subjects are :

Agriculture	Europa	Photography
Airplanes	Flags	Plants
Amphibians	Flora & Fauna	Roses
Antiques	Fossils	Rotary International
Ammunitions	Fruits	Red Cross
Bicycles	Hands	Religions
Bridges	Health	Reptiles
Butterfly	History	Radio
Botany	Industry	Railways
Chemistry	Motor Vehicles	Ships
Christmas	Music	Theatre
Communications	Milk	Transportation
Culture	Olympic Games	Tourism
Costumes	Personalities	Water
Dogs	Peace	Weather
Education	Paintings	and many many more....

Few examples of thematic stamps:

Butterfly
Gandhi
Animals

Accessories required:

Few accessories are needed in order to begin a stamp collection.

• Stamp album or stock book to preserve and arrange your stamps. Use good quality stock books. Make sure to keep the stamps and stamp albums away from moisture, warm areas, and light.

Arranging Stamps in Stock Book with help of tweezer

• A pair of tweezers will be needed for handling your stamps. It will prevent fingerprints, sweat or grease from getting on the stamp. Condition of the stamp has a large impact on its value.
• A magnifying glass, or loupe, is one of the most important tools for any stamp collector. It is used to examine a stamp for faults, as well as for the examination of minute printing details, sometimes necessary for correctly attributing a stamp.

Tweezer and varieties of Magnifying Glasses

• Other essential tools you will need are stamp hinges or mounts, glassine envelopes, watermark detector, a perforation gauge, a stamp catalog for the particular area being collected.